Bathing suit



April 17, 192s.

L. PELTON BATHING SUIT Filed A'ug. 20. 1927 0 als fe Zfwz,

Patented Apr. 17, 192s.

LOUIS PELTON, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. v

- BATHING sum1 Application lled August 20, 192.7. Serial No. 214,289.

This invention relates to bathing suits, and more particularly it relates to bathing suits for women and girls. The principal object of this inventionvi's to provide self contained means in a knitted or wovenv fabric bathing suit for snugly holding back vthe bust portion of the female gure, and thereby making the person more comfortable while swimming or bathing.

It is Well known that.knitted fabric bathing suits ordinarily are capable of stretching laterally or in a cross wise direction, while there is little or no give or stretch to the goods in a lengthwise direction. AConsequently with a bathing suit of comfortable size it will stretch across the bust of the wearer and yield to conform to the figure of the wearer, and when worn by full busted women it often creates anuntidy and embarrassing appearance, besides being a hindrance to the wearers efforts to swim.

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Another object of the present invention is-to provide for a maximum amount of fullness at the seat of the trunks, and yet preserve a neat and tidy appearance, with a maximum amount of comfort for the wearer.

In accordance with thel present invention the wearers bust is held back snugly, thereby giving a better a pearance and facilitating the wearerse orts to swim. The invention consists in a laterally yielding or stretchable bathing suit having a self contained piece of material located under the front piece of the suit and extending across the bust region of the suit and secured to the material of the suit, said piece of material being substantially non-stretchable or inelastic in a cross wise or transverse direction,

whereby the bust of the wearer is snuglyheld back by said piece, while the remainder of the suit may yieldlaterally to conform to the figure of the wearer. The invention further consists in a bathing suit of which the rear part of the trunks thereof are formed with vertical pleats extending down from the waist portion to a'orda maximum amount of fullness at the seat portion. The invention further consists in the several novel features hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. ,1 is av front elevation of a bathing suit embodying a simple form of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof, with part of the back piece broken away so .between the front and back pieces.

as to illustrate parts that would otherwise be hidden from view; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. l and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken onl line 4--4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to said drawing, which illustrates a simple embodiment of the present invention, the reference character 5 designates the front piece and 6 the back pieceof the garment, said pieces being of conventional form,` sewed together at the sides as usual to form the waist or vest portion 7 and skirt portion 8. Atthetop the front and back pieces are formed with the usual shoulder straps 9 as is well understood. vSewed to the inner sides of the front and back pieces along seams 10, approximately at the waist line, are the trunks 41l.' The back .piece 12 of the trunks is made with one or more vertical pleats 13, which extend down from the seams 10 and provide the necessar fullness for the trunks at the back thereo The garment thus far described is preferably formed of knitted or woven, ribbed material of which the ribs extend verticall or lengthwise of the garment, thereby a fording a maximum amount of stretch or give in a transverse or cross wise direction,

while permitting only a minimum or substantially no stretch or give in a direction lengthwise of the garment.

To prevent the bust' portion 14 of the garment from stretching unnecessarily and in order to snugly hold back the bust of the wearer, I provide a transverse strip or piece of material 15, preferably made of the same material as the remainder of the garment is composed, and fasten it to the sides of the garment, preferably'at the side-seamrsr 1116 e ribs or weave of the transverse stripor piece 15 run cross wise of the garment inV place of running lengthwise thereof, whereby the strip may yield or stretch. in a direction lengthwise of the garment, but may not yield or stretch, appreciably, in a direction transverse or cross wise of the garment. The transverse strip or piece `15 may be made slightly longer (from side to side of the garment), than the front or back piece, as is indicated in Fig. 3 in solid lines, where the garment is illustrated .in dotted lines as stretched laterally beyond `its normal condition. The transverse strip or piece 15 preferably extends from the lower edge 17 of the arm holes to the waist line, although the 15 are darts 18 which shorten the lower porf across4 the body but is held ti htly acrossv tion oiqthe transverse strip and allow more fullness thereabove to receive the bust of the wearer.

By making the'transverse stripy or piece 15 substantially inelastic in a direction transverse of the garment, the strip willbe held tightly across thebust when ythe garment is worn,'since the body of the garment 'may stretch transversely to accommodate itself tothe body of the wearer, whereas the transverse strip cannot stretch laterally the bust, although it may stretc lengthwise of the body and thereby accommodate itself somewhat to the human form.

It is to be observed that with a garment of given size to fit a female i ure, all of the material with the exception o the transverse strip or piece 15 may stretch laterally to accommodate itself to the wearer. However, the transverse strip or piece 15 being substantially inelastic in a direction across the bust of the wearer will not stretch appreciably in a transverse direction, but is held tightly across the bust thereby snugly holding the same back. Consequently the front piece of the garment will not stretch as much as it would if the transversely inelasieaeca f tic strip or piece 15 were omitted, but will accommodate itself to the flattened condition of the bust which is caused by said transverse inelastic; strip. f Furthermore, because of the pleats at the back of the trunks, suficient fullness may be obtained at the seat portion 4thereof withoutv making the Waist portion bulky.

-More or less variation of the exact details of construction is possible without departing from the spiritof this invention; I desire, therefore, not to limit myself to the exact form of the construction shown and described, but instead, in the following claim, to point out all ofthe invention disclosed herein.

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A bathing suit comprising a garment, consisting of waist, skirt and trunks formed of ribbed material capable of stretching in a direction transverse of the garment, and a transverse piece formedof ribbed, knitted material and extending across the bust part of the garment from side to side and being secured to the sides of said waist portion, said transverse piece being of greater length than the distance betweenV the sides of the garment, and being substantially inelastic along its length across the garment.

Louis ramon. 

